《傲慢与偏见》第56章—2012公选：《英语名篇赏析：小说与散文》
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《傲慢与偏见》Chapter 56
ONE morning, about a week after
Bingley's engagement with Jane had been formed, as he and the
females of the family were sitting together in the dining room,
their attention was suddenly drawn to the window, by the sound of a
carriage; and they perceived a chaise and four driving up the lawn.
It was too early in the morning for visitors, and besides, the
equipage did not answer to that of any of their neighbours. The
horses were post; and neither the carriage, nor the livery of the
servant who preceded it, were familiar to them. As it was certain,
however, that somebody was coming, Bingley instantly prevailed on
Miss Bennet to avoid the confinement of such an intrusion, and walk
away with him into the shrubbery. They both set off, and the
conjectures of the remaining three continued, though with little
satisfa
ction, till the door was thrown open and their visitor entered. It
was Lady Catherine de Bourgh. They were of course all intending to
be surprised; but their astonishment was beyond their expectation;
and on the part of Mrs. Bennet and Kitty, though she was perfectly
unknown to them, even inferior to what Elizabeth felt.
She entered the
room with an air more than usually ungracious, made no other reply
to Elizabeth's salutation than a slight inclination of the head,
and sat down without saying a word. Elizabeth had mentioned her
name to her mother on her ladyship's entrance, though no request of
introduction had been made.
Mrs. Bennet, all
amazement, though flattered by having a guest of such high
importance, received her with the utmost politeness. After sitting
for a moment in silence, she said very stiffly to
Elizabeth,
'I hope you are
well, Miss Bennet. That lady, I suppose, is your
mother.'
Elizabeth
replied very concisely that she was.
'And that I
suppose is one of your sisters.'
'Yes, madam,'
said Mrs. Bennet, delighted to speak to a Lady Catherine. 'She is
my youngest girl but one. My youngest of all is lately married, and
my eldest is somewhere about the grounds, walking with a young man
who, I believe, will soon become a part of the
family.'
'You have a very
small park here,' returned Lady Catherine after a short
silence.
'It is nothing
in comparison of Rosings, my lady, I dare say; but I assure you it
is much larger than Sir William Lucas's.'
'This must be a
most inconvenient sitting room for the evening, in summer; the
windows are full west.'
Mrs. Bennet
assured her that they never sat there after dinner, and then
added,
'May I take the
liberty of asking your ladyship whether you left Mr. and Mrs.
Collins well.'
'Yes, very well.
I saw them the night before last.'
Elizabeth now
expected that she would produce a letter for her from Charlotte, as
it seemed the only probable motive for her calling. But no letter
appeared, and she was completely puzzled.
Mrs. Bennet,
with great civility, begged her ladyship to take some refreshment;
but Lady Catherine very resolutely, and not very politely, declined
eating any thing; and then, rising up, said to
Elizabeth,
'Miss Bennet,
there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one
side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you
will favour me with your company.'
'Go, my dear,'
cried her mother, 'and shew her ladyship about the different walks.
I think she will be pleased with the hermitage.'
Elizabeth
obeyed, and running into her own room for her parasol, attended her
noble guest down stairs. As they passed through the hall, Lady
Catherine opened the doors into the dining-parlour and drawing-
room, and pronouncing them, after a short survey, to be decent
looking rooms, walked on.
Her carriage
remained at the door, and Elizabeth saw that her waiting-woman was
in it. They proceeded in silence along the gravel walk that led to
the copse; Elizabeth was determined to make no effort for
conversation with a woman who was now more than usually insolent
and disagreeable.
'How could I
ever think her like her nephew?' said she, as she looked in her
face.
As soon as they
entered the copse, Lady Catherine began in the following manner:
——
'You can be at
no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my journey
hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I
come.'
Elizabeth looked
with unaffected astonishment.
'Indeed, you are
mistaken, Madam. I have not been at all able to account for the
honour of seeing you here.'
'Miss Bennet,'
replied her ladyship, in an angry tone, 'you ought to know, that I
am not to be trifled with. But however insincere you may choose to
be, you shall not find me so. My character has ever been celebrated
for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such moment as
this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most
alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told that not only
your sister was on the point of being most advantageously married,
but that you, that Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would, in all likelihood,
be soon afterwards united to my nephew, my own nephew, Mr. Darcy.
Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood, though I would not
injure him so much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I
instantly resolved on setting off for this place, that I might make
my sentiments known to you.'
'If you believed it impossible
to be true,' said Elizabeth, colouring with astonishment and
disdain, 'I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far. What
could your ladyship propose by it?'
'At once to
insist upon having such a report universally
contradicted.'
'Your coming to
Longbourn, to see me and my family,' said Elizabeth coolly, 'will
be rather a confirmation of it; if, indeed, such a report is in
existence.'
'If! Do you then
pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously
circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a report is
spread abroad?'
'I never heard
that it was.'
'And can you
likewise declare, that there is no foundation for it?'
'I do not
pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask
questions which I shall not choose to answer.'
'This is not to
be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has he, has my
nephew, made you an offer of marriage?'
'Your ladyship
has declared it to be impossible.'
'It ought to be
so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his reason. But your
arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him
forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have
drawn him in.'
'If I have, I
shall be the last person to confess it.'
'Miss Bennet, do
you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as
this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world, and am
entitled to know all his dearest concerns.'
'But you are not
entitled to know mine; nor will such behaviour as this, ever induce
me to be explicit.'
'Let me be
rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption
to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to
my daughter. Now what have you to say?'
'Only this; that
if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will make an
offer to me.'
Lady Catherine
hesitated for a moment, and then replied,
'The engagement
between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have
been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his
mother, as well as of her's. While in their cradles, we planned the
union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would
be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman
of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly
unallied to the family! Do you pay no regard to the wishes of his
friends? To his tacit engagement with Miss De Bourgh? Are you lost
to every feeling of propriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me
say that from his earliest hours he was destined for his
cousin?'
'Yes, and I had
heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no other
objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept
from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry
Miss De Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the
marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is
neither by honour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is
not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not
I accept him?'
'Because honour,
decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet,
interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends,
if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be
censured, slighted, and despised, by every one connected with him.
Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be
mentioned by any of us.'
'These are heavy
misfortunes,' replied Elizabeth. 'But the wife of Mr. Darcy must
have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached
to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to
repine.'
'Obstinate,
headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my
attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score?
Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came
here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor
will I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any
person's whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking
disappointment.'
'That will make
your ladyship's situation at present more pitiable; but it will
have no effect on me.'
'I will not be
interrupted. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are
formed for each other. They are descended, on the maternal side,
from the same noble line; and, on the father's, from respectable,
honourable, and ancient —— though untitled —— families. Their
fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other
by the voice of every member of their respective houses; and what
is to divide them? The upstart pretensions of a young woman without
family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must
not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would
not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought
up.'
'In marrying
your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere.
He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are
equal.'
'True. You are a
gentleman's daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles
and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their
condition.'
'Whatever my
connections may be,' said Elizabeth, 'if your nephew does not
object to them, they can be nothing to you.'
'Tell me once
for all, are you engaged to him?'
Though Elizabeth
would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have
answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment's
deliberation,
'I am
not.'
Lady Catherine
seemed pleased.
'And will you
promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?'
'I will make no
promise of the kind.'
'Miss Bennet I
am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable
young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will
ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the
assurance I require.'
'And I certainly
never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into anything so
wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your
daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise make their
marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to me,
would my refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow it on
his cousin? Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments
with which you have supported this extraordinary application have
been as frivolous as the application was ill-judged. You have
widely mistaken my character, if you think I can be worked on by
such persuasions as these. How far your nephew might approve of
your interference in his affairs, I cannot tell; but you have
certainly no right to concern yourself in mine. I must beg,
therefore, to be importuned no farther on the
subject.'
'Not so hasty,
if you please. I have by no means done. To all the objections I
have already urged, I have still another to add. I am no stranger
to the particulars of your youngest sister's infamous elopement. I
know it all; that the young man's marrying her was a patched-up
business, at the expence of your father and uncles. And is such a
girl to be my nephew's sister? Is her husband, is the son of his
late father's steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth! —— of
what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus
polluted?'
'You can now
have nothing farther to say,' she resentfully answered. 'You have
insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to the
house.'
And she rose as
she spoke. Lady Catherine rose also, and they turned back. Her
ladyship was highly incensed.
'You have no
regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling,
selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must
disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?'
'Lady Catherine,
I have nothing farther to say. You know my
sentiments.'
'You are then
resolved to have him?'
'I have said no
such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will,
in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to
you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.'
'It is well. You
refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty,
honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the
opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the
world.'
'Neither duty,
nor honour, nor gratitude,' replied Elizabeth, 'have any possible
claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either would
be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the
resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the
former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one
moment's concern —— and the world in general would have too much
sense to join in the scorn.'
'And this is
your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall
now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your
ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find
you reasonable; but, depend upon it, I will carry my
point.'
In this manner
Lady Catherine talked on, till they were at the door of the
carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added, 'I take no leave
of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You
deserve no such attention. I am most seriously
displeased.'
Elizabeth made
no answer; and without attempting to persuade her ladyship to
return into the house, walked quietly into it herself. She heard
the carriage drive away as she proceeded up stairs. Her mother
impatiently met her at the door of the dressing-room, to ask why
Lady Catherine would not come in again and rest
herself.
'She did not
choose it,' said her daughter, 'she would go.'
'She is a very
fine-looking woman! and her calling here was prodigiously civil!
for she only came, I suppose, to tell us the Collinses were well.
She is on her road somewhere, I dare say, and so, passing through
Meryton, thought she might as well call on you. I suppose she had
nothing particular to say to you, Lizzy?'
Elizabeth was
forced to give into a little falsehood here; for to acknowledge the
substance of their conversation was impossible.
